King of Wands/The Moon reversed.  The King of Wands (cusp of Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, nurturing, moody, and Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic egotistical) is a natural leader who not only creates new strategies through hard-earned knowledge, experience and wisdom, but puts them into effect as well.  He is reminding me that I can enjoy meeting a challenge; it’s all in the perception.  The Moon corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, emotional and sensitive energy that strives to stay the same), Pisces (“I believe,” feeling, suffering, soul growth, duality), Qof (the back of the head), and the Path between Malkuth (the physical world of action and physical, outer reality) and Netzach (the stimulating factors of emotion and inspiration), and talks about the imagination, perception, and fear of the unknown.  Imagination can be helpful and it can be harmful, and since my Moon is reversed today, I should be able to perceive with accuracy, whether I am dealing with illusion or perception. 

My Thoth card is the Ten of Cups.  Nice; “Satiety” is the keyword for the Ten of Cups (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Pisces, “I believe,” feeling, duality, spirituality, suffering and growth) which offers the manifestation of happiness and fulfillment. These are simple joys, but potent all the same, and they just might be lasting, too.

My Legacy card is the Page of Wands, flavored by the Knight of Cups. The Page of Wands (Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody; Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic noble egotistical; and Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented) tells me to use assertion and action to attract adventure and excitement.  This Page is about new ideas and enthusiasm for discovery.  He pairs nicely with my King of Wands above, because he brings a child-like wonder to the day. The Knight of Cups (cusp of Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, cause-oriented, and Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, suffering, soul growth) is about feeling things strongly and about dreaming, and about the imagination.  My Knight is flavoring my Page of Wands, which adds feelings and imagination to new ideas and adventure.  Interesting that both of my Wands male Court Cards are paired with cards that are about illusions, imagination and the subconscious.

My 6-digit date number is 3, the number that tells of a new creation out of the potential and position of the Ace, and the balance, polarity, and understanding of “distance between” of the two.

My horoscopes: “You may be at a point in which you just want to stop and rest, Sagittarius. This is the time to do so. You deserve a break, so take this day and have fun. Be social with large groups of people and share your ideas. There is more fun to be had in numbers, so make your plans for the day accordingly. The more of yourself that you share with others, the more respect you'll gain from them.”

And: “Pieces of today's puzzle may not be fitting into place for you, and its possible that you simply have no idea why. This is fine. Do not stress over something because you don't quite understand it. The key to making things work out is listening. Adjustments will definitely need to be made on both sides, but this can only happen if both parties are willing to open up their ears and understand each other's perspective.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Knight of Pentacles.  This Knight has his personality extremes in a non-in-your-face way.  He always has his eyes glued to his goal in an unwavering fashion, and he is difficult to distract.  A successful manifestation of his task is his goal, and he will not waver until it is completed.  This Knight prefers tried-and-true methods, in fact he is an expert on them, and these methods can be quite effective as they has the force of the element of Earth behind them.

I’ve talked about the gunas of Heavy and Light, Liquid and Dry, Hot and Cold, and Easy and Difficult.  Today, I will talk a bit about Sweet and Bitter. 

Sweet, which does not only include foods that are sugary, can include carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and anything else that tastes nourishing.  Sweet is life-giving in its natural form (and this does not include refined sugars), and it nourishes the blood.  Once the agricultural revolution took place, Sweet became common.  Since we are attracted to Sweet, this has become a problem.

Too much Sweet (especially refined sugars and refined grains) will thicken the blood and cause both stagnation and high blood pressure.  Poor circulation brings a host of other issues.  Swelling of extremities, the lymphatic system gets clogged, the lungs fill with mucous and water.  The reduction of oxygenation can cause the thyroid to lower metabolism to compensate.  The kidnesy retain water, and edema may become an issue.

Sweet, which corresponds to the elements of Water and Earth, is cooling, heavy, oily, and sticky; it coats the tongue and throat, alleviates thirst, and helps with wound healing.  Kaphas need to discourage water retention, but Sweet can help Vatas, who tend to be dry.

Bitter is one of the tastes that are considered opposite of Sweet, and too much Sweet can be balanced by consuming Bitter foods.  The cool thing about Bitter is that our body sometimes perceives Bitters as poisonous; this actually stimulates various organs and systems.  The liver and gall bladder release bile, the digestion gets stimulated and thus metabolism is stimulated, and toxins are eliminated quickly. 

Bitter, which corresponds with the element of Air, is one of the most common tastes in nature, and primitive man ate a diet that was high in Bitter.  Sweet was rare and prized, which is one reason we tend to crave Sweet.  Bitter is drying and purifying; it resets the taste buds and erases food cravings.  Bitter is light, clearing, cooling and drying; it alleviates dizziness and fainting from heat (including fevers).  Bitter helps to balance Pitta and Kapha, but aggravates Vata.

Coffee is considered Bitter, which I love because I am a “recovering Kapha”; most leafy greens, including dandelions, are Bitter.

I love this stuff!  Learning about this brings an amazing ability to control my physiology.

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